Chapter 161: Fresh air

Thorne’s POV

“Are you sure about this?” Carlos asks me for the first time since I told him I was going to see Ruelle today. We both know it is not ideal, leaving at this time. But I have a promise to fulfill.

“I promised her.”  Is all I tell him and he nods his head, stepping back. I was going alone, to be as discreet as I can be and also as quick as possible. I just really needed to see Ruelle before the brawl.

“Then I’ll watch over things here.”  Carlos nods and walks back into the house, not even sparing a glance over his shoulder.

I begin the seemingly endless journey of walking through the woods alone. In the scorching sun and then the dead of night. Being discreet means not being able to use a carriage since it might grab attention. And as far as I am concerned, Mudrich may have planted one or two moles in my border to notify him of my movements so he has what to use to bait me later on. And I can’t have that.

I stop for a quick meal and a run in my wolf before carrying on.

By the time the little cabin in the woods come into view, I have scouted all the surrounding woods to make sure I am not being followed, going as far as dusting away my footprints and canceling out my scent.

As soon as the guards see me, they drop to a bow, silence falling over them. I haven’t even crossed the lawn to the house when the door is suddenly pushed open, Ruelle standing wide eyed in the doorway as she watches me coming.

I take her small frame in my arms as soon as I am within reaching distance, twirling her around as her legs come up to wrap around my waist.

“Oh baby…” I bury my face in her hair, sniffing her scent. My arms around her are tight and even though she doesn’t complain, I loosen them so she can breathe.

“I thought you weren’t coming”. She sobs against my shoulder, her tears and snot soaking up my cloak and I don’t care. I hug her tighter, carefully lowering her till her feet hit the ground. Her belly has seemingly gotten bigger and makes our hug kind of awkward, but it makes me want to pepper kisses all over her to remember how lucky I am to have a baby on the way with her.

“I promised you I would. God, I missed you so much”. I breathe into her neck.

“I missed you more, I thought I would die.”

A laugh skips out of me at her words. “Okay okay let’s calm a little bit.”

She sniffs, slowly unwrapping her arms from my neck as though she would rather stay latched unto me forever. Her face is red, wet and puffy by the time she pulls away from me, but she still manages to be the most beautiful woman I have ever laid my eyes on.

My hands are clearly not having enough of her as they tread into her full hair, massaging through her roots. I use my grip to angle her head upwards before finally closing her lips with mine. I kiss her with everything in me, and simultaneously take back all the parts of me that I lost the past few weeks when she wasn’t by my side. Her fingers latch onto the collar of my cloak, pulling me down and further into her.

I use my tongue to part her lips, and moan when she gives me entrance. A soft lick on her lower lip has her moaning too and pulling me further into the house.

My dick builds a tent in my pants, throbbing mercilessly at not having seen Ruelle in so long. But I grunt and pull my mouth from hers when I remember that she is too far gone and near her due date for us to have sex.

“Why’d you stop?”  She groans, pressing her chest to mine and pulling me down more. I kiss her lips before moving to her cheeks and neck.

“We need to be careful, princess. We can’t.”

“Shit”. She breathes against my own lips when she remembers too. She pulls back with a breathy laugh, gives me a look while chewing her bottom lip that makes me groan and adjust myself in my pants.

“Don’t look at me like that, Ruelle. I’m three seconds away from bursting.”  I growl, driving my face into her neck. “I buried my face in our pillows every night to get a sniff of this scent…”. I inhale, grazing the tip of my nose over her jawline. “But then a maiden went ahead to wash all the sheets without telling me.”

She laughs, throwing her head back and grabbing me tighter. “That must have been really frustrating.”

“Safe to say I lost my cool in a way I have never done in front of my servants before. And I knew I had to come for another drag”

She keeps chewing on her bottom lip and I can see it is no longer just casual chewing. She is about to draw blood, deep in thought. “At least you had my scent.”  She whispers. “I had nothing and was about to loose my mind, Thorne”

Without a word, I reach my fingers up to pull her lower lip from between her teeth, leaning down to take it into my mouth and give it a gentle suck, soothing it. She sighs, shutting her eyes. I release her lip from my mouth with a soft popping sound and as soon as I do so, the look in her eyes tells me we need to change the subject before we both do something that we might regret.

“The brawl has begun.”  I tell her and watch the look disappear from her eyes almost immediately. It is replaced by fear, which I wouldn’t want to see either, so I add, “We got some help. Some Alphas from the Middle East  of the Coast who also have scores to settle with the Council offered to help. So now we are of a reasonable amount.”

“That is good.”  She breathes, nodding her head. “That is very good”

I lick my lips. “Yeah”

I read the look in her eyes and have the urge to run my palms over my face. She is about to ask about her father.

“Garron got… some members of my pack to admit to not wanting the Crestwood as part of us. And if the brawl doesn’t end well, I may be forced to give them up. Even if it does, the claims hold much power that me winning or loosing doesn’t really matter. I may have to give them up either way.”

She sighs, pulling away from me and walking over to the couch.

“I just… I can’t believe he would do that. This is so fucked up”. She says, running her fingers through her wavy hair. “

“It is. But don’t worry. I have a plan”

“You do?”

I nod. “And it is going to work. I just need time.”